


Days Like These

by Sholio



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 03:59:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6640492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was written for a Tumblr prompt: <i>Peggy having one very shitty day and the boys + Angie making it better in their own way.</i> I decided it was long enough to post it as a standalone story. Takes place between seasons one and two. <a href="http://sholiofic.tumblr.com/post/141304282768/peggy-having-one-very-shitty-day-and-the-boys">Originally posted here.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Days Like These

It was one of those days that wasn't terrible in any great, overwhelming way. No one had died. Nothing terrible had happened on a case. It was just one of those days ... when ...

It was one of those days when the gas was inexplicably not working on the range so she couldn't have her morning tea, and her train was five minutes early so she missed it and had to walk six blocks over to catch another one, during which time it started raining -- causing her to realize she'd forgotten her umbrella, so she arrived at work late, with flattened hair and ruined shoes. And from there it was just one bloody thing after another, from having to retype a report three times because she kept making errors, to a desk drawer breaking, to falling down while chasing a suspect and splashing mud all up the front of her dress.

Thompson was lounging against the side of an SSR car when she showed up with their suspect, dripping. He barked a laugh when he saw her. "Carter."

"Chief," she returned, head held high. "I am done with this day. Absolutely done."

"Speaking of done, are you by any chance done with the expense reports on your Dottie Underwood hunt from the last few months? Because this quarter's financial report is due at four p.m. today."

"Oh, excellent. That's exactly what this day needs, an arbitrary deadline."

He smirked. Peggy decided to ignore him, and shoved her suspect a little more roughly than necessary into the back of the SSR car. Since she was focused on the criminal, it came as a complete shock when something warm settled around her shoulders. 

Jack had taken off his jacket and draped it on her.

"Can't have you catching cold, Carter," he said when she gave him a startled glance.

"I'm all over mud," she protested, looking down at the jacket, which had an expensive look about it.

"Never let it be said the SSR doesn't give a hundred and ten percent for its agents," Jack said, and wandered off to secure the crime scene.

"So I'm driving, then?" she complained to his back.

At the SSR, after depositing the suspect in a holding cell, she managed to remove the worst of the mud in the restroom and found a cardigan in her bottom desk drawer to cover up her ruined blouse, even if it didn't match. She was struggling with the expense reports, her desk drowning in a sea of papers and receipts, when a cup of tea slid onto the edge of her desk.

"I was just in the canteen," Daniel said, "and you looked like you needed this."

"Thank you, Daniel." It looked oversteeped and there was no milk in it, but it was hot, and wonderfully full of caffeine. She curled her hands around the cup.

"Whatcha workin' on?"

"Oh ... just my reports for the last three months. It's my own fault for letting it pile up, that's all."

She'd been so delighted to get a field agent position, which got her out from under the burden of everyone else’s filing, that she'd been failing to do her own. Now, she felt as if a towering stack of paperwork had crashed down on top of her.

Daniel reached over and casually dragged up a chair. "Easier with two, you think?"

They were soon lost in the labyrinth of several months' worth of unfiled receipts. Peggy nearly jumped out of her skin when Jack said, from a couple of feet behind her, "You planning to return my jacket, or keep it for a souvenir?"

"Your jacket is not quite in the state it once was. I'll clean it and return it to you then."

"I'll expect it by Christmas, if your report filing is anything to go by." He pulled up a chair, sat on it backward, and rested his arms on the back. "Is there any way to speed up this process, per chance?"

Peggy shoved a stack of receipts into his hands.

With three people working on it, and a bit of fudging, the reports were soon in shape, and Peggy flopped back in her chair. "Satisfied?" she asked Jack.

"Very," he said, gathering up the papers. "You want to leave early, Carter, be my guest."

"Is that a serious offer, or are you being sarcastic?"

"I'm just trying to get my jacket back sometime before the next quarterly report deadline," Jack said over his shoulder.

"And that's my cue to visit the dry cleaner's," Peggy sighed, rising to gather it up. "Thank you for the help, Daniel. I truly appreciate it."

She left the SSR suffused with an unexpected sense of warmth and camaraderie. This feeling lasted for about five minutes, until she broke a heel running to catch her train.

Angie took one look at her when she walked in the door and said, "Hey English, you know how we're always talking about raiding Stark's wine cellar but have never actually done it?"

"I can't believe the man actually has a wine cellar," Peggy sighed. She hung up her hat and the entire hat-rack came off the wall and crashed down to the floor, flattening the crown of her favorite fedora. She stared at that for a moment, and then turned away, leaving the mess. "Yes. Lead the way. I suggest two bottles, for a start."


End file.
